(Complete 4/20!) How Many Cookies Does One Couple Need? - Dec 2023 Trip Report

[Araminta18]

I agree 100%. We just renewed our Pre-Check as it’s AWESOME.

Pre-Check is AMAZING. I saw something online about someone complaining about the long pre-check line with too many folks having it, and I was like doesn't even matter- even if the line is long, I don't have to take my shoes off or take stuff out of my bag...brilliant.

YES. SO MUCH. I adored being able to skip baggage claim - Magical Express itself was fun but the luggage delivery was the most magical part. I’m not optimistic it will return, but if they added the luggage delivery to Mears I’d be happy to pay for it!

OOOOH that would be amazing if they added it! That'd be the only way I'd take Mears, cause its usually faster just to do Uber but if they did luggage...in a heartbeat!

I love all your pictures of the trees! The Nightmare Before Christmas tree is a particular favorite as we watched that movie A LOT last fall.

Yay! I felt kind of like it was too much after the third post, but glad you liked them. I haven't watched Nightmare Before Christmas in a while but maybe I should!

I’m looking forward to trying Garden Grill in May! I wish they still had the cinnamon roll skillet, but the cinnamon bread and the rest of the food (plus the great characters - love Chip and Dale!) look good. I love your approach of hitting a few attractions first and then eating an hour in - I’m debating doing the same to save some wait time.

Oooh have fun! Oh yea the cinnamon roll skillet would be great to bring back, but what they have now is good too. And yes! I always hate "wasting" good rope drop time on eating, so this is my compromise. Usually works out pretty well, if you don't get too hungry! Course you could also eat a small snack in the room before you head out (Trevor will usually eat a granola bar or something)

I’m super excited to see this! (I’ve watched a LOT of Moana! ) As usual, I appreciate your detailed descriptions.

It's so much fun! Hope you have a great time.

 

[Araminta18]

How Many Characters Can We Meet? - Thurs Dec 14, 2023 (part 9)​

Ok, so waiting in line for Belle! By the time it was time for her to come out, this was the line behind us -

All the way back to the Ratatouille sign there. Glad we got in line when we did! We were like 3 or 4 groups back - not bad at all.

She came out about 5 minutes late; Trevor filmed her walking over:

She was in her holiday dress - yay!! We got to meet her 3 minutes later:


No photopass photographer but the character attendants were willing to take pictures, so that was nice. It was a fun little greet - her costume is amazing, and she was really sweet talking about how Mrs Potts and the others would be happy to make me a fancy dress too.

Yay! I was really happy about that - I'd wanted to meet her in her holiday dress but didn't want to spend time at MVMCP if there was another way to meet her, and there was! Yay!

But with that done, it was time to head to the Epcot resorts to check out the gingerbread and decorations. So we headed towards International Gateway, stopping (of course) at a photographer on the way.

Trevor really likes the theming down near the water level there, like the boat and other things, so kind of fun that this picture captured a bit of that.

We browsed a bit through the gift shop (Trevor found a cool mug that he thought about getting but decided against right then just cause heavy/fragile/didn't want to carry it. BRING BACK RESORT DELIVERY/FRONT OF PARK DELIVERY DISNEY!), and then decided to take the boat over to the Boardwalk cause why not.

Who doesn't love the Friendship boats?

Once at the Boardwalk, we browsed a bit in the art shop there, and then, GUESS WHO WE SAW:

Donald! It was so neat to just run into him here - and he was feisty! Super fun interactions.

I really liked his fancy outfits, so that was what I commented on. And there was a photopass photographer with him, so she took some fun candid shots. We didn't want to monopolize his time too much, so we left after a minute and started heading up those steps Donald just came down, and guess who we saw?

Pluto! Such a fun collar too.

More pictures from the photographer - Trevor filming away there.

Then we actually went up the steps for real, and ran into Goofy!

He was the only one we didn't actually interact with, but we figured we'd had a good run what with Donald and Pluto.

We stayed up there just watching them all interact with people for a while down on the green. It was such a fun little bit of magic - there weren't a ton of people, and they were being super playful. At one point Donald and Pluto played fetch. It was just such a nice, unplanned, fun thing that you just had to be in the right spot at the right time for. I loved it - couldn't stop smiling while watching.

Definitely a good start to our resort visit!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

da and I love it and I'm so sad that Club Cool doesn't let you buy full size of the drinks they have in the soda fountains there. How cool would that be?! It literally just occurred to me that you could ask to buy a larger cup and fill it with something from the fountain. I wonder if that would work? Hmm....

I always think this... It's weird that they don't sell full size cups.

We browsed a bit through the gift shop (Trevor found a cool mug that he thought about getting but decided against right then just cause heavy/fragile/didn't want to carry it. BRING BACK RESORT DELIVERY/FRONT OF PARK DELIVERY DISNEY!), and then decided to take the boat over to the Boardwalk cause why not

I wonder how many people used it. It is weird that they haven't brought it back.


I skipped the Moana posts, I have seen some stuff but tryingt o keep it new for when we go!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Love it! Thanks for sharing

 

[cheryllarsen]

I very much enjoyed reading this trip report!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Hooray for catching Belle in her holiday dress! And a double hooray for the unexpected character interactions - what a treat!

 

[Araminta18]

I always think this... It's weird that they don't sell full size cups.

glad I'm not the only one!

I wonder how many people used it. It is weird that they haven't brought it back.

right? I guess the amount of CMs to run it and space and all that cost too much. But such a bummer - makes it so much more convenient to obey that cardinal rule of Disney souvenir shopping - if you see it and want it, buy it then or it may be sold out!

I skipped the Moana posts, I have seen some stuff but tryingt o keep it new for when we go!

I hope you have a great time and love it!

Love it! Thanks for sharing

thank you for reading!

I very much enjoyed reading this trip report!

I'm so glad you're enjoying it!!

Hooray for catching Belle in her holiday dress! And a double hooray for the unexpected character interactions - what a treat!

right? it was such a great afternoon - just all the pixie dust

 

[jrmint427]

BRING BACK RESORT DELIVERY/FRONT OF PARK DELIVERY DISNEY!)

You can't just have items sent back to your resort?? I didn't know that perk was taken away! I'm glad I read this before our trip though.

 

[Araminta18]

You can't just have items sent back to your resort?? I didn't know that perk was taken away! I'm glad I read this before our trip though.

Nope, it went away with Covid and they haven't brought it back yet. There's no option to have it sent back to your resort, or to the front of the park.

 

[Araminta18]

Christmas at the Boardwalk! - Thurs Dec 14, 2023 (part 10)​

With our fun pixie dust of seeing the characters over, we headed inside the Boardwalk to look at their gingerbread house!

I loved these garlands around, with the little carousel animals there - aren't they so cute?!

Then the tree:

The tree was honestly a bit smaller than I thought, but I loved the decorations - very...cheery and bright somehow.

But really, the star of the show was the gingerbread house!

I love that every gingerbread house has this little sign giving fun facts about the display and the ingredients.

It's the Boardwalk Deli! How cute is that? And all the characters in the windows...love it. And then - in the bakery:


It's Mickey and Minnie making the pastries! How cute is that? Adorable.

Is it still a "hidden" Mickey if it's huge and obvious?

We spent some time looking at the display and enjoying the details, and then jumped in line for goodies.

We got a gingerbread shingle - how cool that they "print" the Boardwalk logo on there! - and some hot chocolate.

We saved the shingle so we could have a gingerbread "taste off", but we drank the hot chocolate right then. It was pretty creamy and good, if a little bit hot for the weather. Not bad! I enjoyed it.

After we were done with the hot chocolate, it was time to head over to Yacht and Beach Club. So we headed back to the boat, but in passing the Christmas tree on the green I had to grab a picture.

So pretty! I love the rainbow star topper.

 

[Araminta18]

Yacht and Beach Club Decorations - Thurs Dec 14, 2023 (part 11)​

We grabbed the boat over to Yacht and Beach Club, and decided to start with Beach Club (since our dinner reservation was gonna be at Yacht Club - made a bit more sense to end at Yacht Club).

We walked in and saw their display - a moving carousel!

So neat! I loved how it was Duck Tales-themed, cause there's that game you play in World Showcase now that's all Duck Tales. I took a video cause I was so impressed with it actually moving.

And they had a sign also made out of gingerbread talking about what the theme is.

So cool.

And of course, we had to get the gingerbread:

They didn't have hot chocolate, but their gingerbread has chocolate on it with the anchor printed on it, and then we bought the lighthouse fudge bar there in the box.

From here, we started walking over to Yacht Club, enjoying the decorations on the way.

I thought this was so cute, with the anchor on the garland!

Sea-themed wreath! Isn't that a cute bow? And the wooden seahorses!

The walk over to Yacht Club took us outside by the pool (which feels a bit weird to me? Is there really no way to walk from Beach Club to Yacht Club all indoors?), and we saw this super adorable towel Mickey:

Towel Mickey with his little lifejacket! Isn't that super cute? I love these little touches.

Once at Yacht Club, I was a bit surprised by how...small the lobby felt. I'd been here once before with my mom but I didn't really remember it. The ceilings just felt a bit low. But the decorations were neat!

The sailboats on the tree are super cute.

And their gingerbread display!

Ok, this is of the train and the little village, but the lighthouse behind is their gingerbread display.



Pretty nifty!

We had a real fun time looking at the train and the village and all the details there - they had lots of buildings in their village named after real places at Yacht and Beach Club, like Hurricane Hanna's, etc.

The train wasn't running right now, but we came back later right before dinner and it was running, so I took a video. And just tossing it in here now.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The walk over to Yacht Club took us outside by the pool (which feels a bit weird to me? Is there really no way to walk from Beach Club to Yacht Club all indoors?), and we saw this super adorable towel Mickey:

I don't think you can . But I don't think you have to go by the pool. But you do have to go outside for a tiny bit.

 

[jrmint427]

Nope, it went away with Covid and they haven't brought it back yet. There's no option to have it sent back to your resort, or to the front of the park.

That is a bummer! Noting to shop at the end of the night.

I took a video cause I was so impressed with it actually moving.

That is so cool!

 

[Araminta18]

I don't think you can . But I don't think you have to go by the pool. But you do have to go outside for a tiny bit.

So weird to me that there isn't a path completely inside.

That is a bummer! Noting to shop at the end of the night.

Yes! Definitely shop at the end of the night, or on your way back to the hotel for a midday break.

That is so cool!

It really was! I've never seen moving gingerbread before

 

[Araminta18]

Can the Rolls Possibly Be as Good as they Say? - Thurs Dec 14, 2023 (part 12)​

Having looked all around at the decorations and the lighthouse, and a somewhat futile search for the Yacht Club gingerbread shingle to purchase only to realize that it's just one for both Yacht and Beach, it was nap time! It was about 3:30/3:45, and we had a 5 pm dinner reservation at Ale and Compass, so about 75/90 minutes. Not too shabby. We headed upstairs to the little area overlooking the lobby, and grabbed two seats and conked out. Our view:

It wasn't quite as quiet as we were hoping - the lobby music was just a bit loud, and while no guests came back where we were, there were some CMs who periodically kept passing, and the chairs were not super comfy for naps. So, 4/10 - it'll do in a pinch but not my first choice.

Hi Trevor!

So, after a nap that wasn't quite as restful as we hoped, we headed downstairs for a meal that we hoped was better than we hoped! We were heading to Ale and Compass, not gonna lie, mostly for the Parker House rolls! I'd heard such good things, we had to try them and now was as good a time as any. We were seated right on time, right near the entrance, and we had a fantastic waitress - super friendly but not overbearing, just the right amount. And soon enough, our Parker House rolls were set before us!

Don't they look amazing?! The spreads were Bacon Jam, Pub Cheese, and Citrus butter. All three were delicious but the citrus butter was my least favorite. Citrus butter is just an unexpected combination. But you almost didn't need spreads - look at the shine on those delicious things! The only bad thing was that there were 5 rolls and 2 of us...that doesn't divide neatly.

As far as drinks, we got mocktails again - Trevor got pomegranate lemonade, while I got the raspberry nojito. Spoiler alert: if there's a raspberry drink, I will 100% of the time get it.


These were both delicious.

As far as main courses, I got the steak:

Came with parmesan fries. The steak sauce (the melted butter? ) was good, and the steak was fine - a bit tough/chewy, but fine. Trevor though got their signature dish: the New England Seafood Pot Pie: Shrimp, Scallops, Jumbo Lump Crab, and Sustainable Catch of the Day with Baby Carrots, Pearl Onions, Peas, Potatoes, and Crustacean Cream with a Flaky Crust. I think he got it without scallops (he's not a fan), but despite not being sure he was hungry enough for it, he figured he had to try it. And look at it!

Not quite what you'd expect, right?

I had to film him breaking into it.

And a pic of the inside, just so you can see. Trevor said this was delicious and very filling. I declined to try it cause seafood. Gross.

Overall, a decent meal - a bit overpriced, but those rolls...so good! I wanna go back, just for those. And definitely filling, which we needed as we got ready to head over to Epcot.

Hello wreath with a giant sailboat!

Coming out of Yacht Club heading towards the Friendship boats -

Isn't it just so pretty? It's kind of hard to see here but I love the Christmas lights wrapped around the lamp posts on the way to the boats.

 

[Araminta18]

You Think You Know What This Post Will Be About - Thurs Dec 14, 2023 (part 13)​

So, very well pleased with our Epcot resort afternoon - characters, gingerbread treats and decorations, and yummy rolls - we headed onto the Friendship boats. We had even gotten our mocktails to go!


We got lucky - the boat arrived just as we did, so 10 min later we were walking into Epcot!

Pretty decorations at World Traveler. Apparently I have a thing for vertical garlands with lights? Who knew. We also ducked in here and ended up buying the World Showcase glass mug Trevor had seen earlier, as well as a jacket for him (Festival of the Holidays), and the Festival of the Holidays fuzzy spirit jersey for me. Trevor was cold...I was not quite yet, but figured better to have it than not. You'll see if that turns out or not.

It was about 6:40, and our plan was to get in line for Brendan Fraser narrating the Candlelight Processional at 8:30 pm. When we got to America, I was SHOCKED to see the line.

It was backed up to here, and there was a switchback or two already filled in. Made me glad we'd done the dining package!!

Where I was standing in the line - basically right in front of Japan! Nice photo with candy cane Spaceship earth though?

We talked a bit with the folks around us in line and just kind of killed time. It wasn't bad, actually. How can you hate being in Epcot with the lights and the music and the ambiance? And you know, talking with the other folks in line. They were locals and were telling us all sorts of fun stories. It definitely made the time go by - anyone else like making random friends in line when you're stuck in a long one? Trevor and I did switch off once for each of us to run to the bathroom. Trevor grabbed this picture of the crowd at the earlier show:

All those folks standing and watching. Crazy!

That's the picture Trevor took while he was out and about - I took this one instead:

Gorgeous American Adventure Christmas tree!! I love the bright yellow against the red garland.

Then back to line and one more pic of Spaceship Earth:


We started moving at 8:05, and we managed to get a really good spot: on the right, right behind the family spots!

Not too bad! We'd never done it before so we weren't sure where to go, but we figured closer was better. Also look at what they do on the sides of the theatre! I've never seen that blocked off/decorated before. Kind of cool!

So by 8:15, we were all settled and ready for it to begin! You'll notice I was still not cold - no spirit jersey for me yet! It was a bit chilly but with all the people, I was good. December at Disney is weird weather! How do you possibly know what to take with you each day? Disney must make bank off folks buying jackets later in the day.

Aaaand that's the picture limit...you'll have to wait til next time for our review of the Candlelight Processional and Brendan Fraser.

Ok that seems mean - here's some highlight clips!

Next time, the full review.

 

[mickey916]

Gorgeous American Adventure Christmas tree!! I love the bright yellow against the red garland.

That is gorgeous! We got a picture during the day but that is beautiful at night! I'm sorry we missed it. Thanks for sharing all your beautiful pics!

 

[jrmint427]

And you know, talking with the other folks in line. They were locals and were telling us all sorts of fun stories. It definitely made the time go by - anyone else like making random friends in line when you're stuck in a long one?

The nighttime pictures are so pretty! And yes, no better way to pass the time than talking to strangers I sometimes embarrass my family because I will talk to anyone, especially if I’m bored.

 

[Araminta18]

That is gorgeous! We got a picture during the day but that is beautiful at night! I'm sorry we missed it. Thanks for sharing all your beautiful pics!

Thanks! I'm sorry you missed it too, but that just means you have to go back at Christmastime this year, right?

The nighttime pictures are so pretty! And yes, no better way to pass the time than talking to strangers I sometimes embarrass my family because I will talk to anyone, especially if I’m bored.

Glad I'm not the only one who loves it at night! And also that I'm not the only one who talks to people in line. That's hilarious about embarrassing your family - oh well, you're the one having fun conversations and making friends!

 

[mickey916]

Thanks! I'm sorry you missed it too, but that just means you have to go back at Christmastime this year, right?

I like the way you think! I just love it at Christmastime. We went in 2022 because I used the excuse of having purchased an AP for our 2022 spring trips and always wanting to see the holiday decorations. Then, we went in 2023 because I used the excuse of cheap airfare...maybe this will be my excuse for 2024...